Cavaliers at Magic
The Orlando Magic need a quick turnaround if they want to end a six-season playoff drought. The Magic have dropped four of their last five games as they enter Thursday's matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first contest of a five-game homestand.
Orlando fell two games behind eighth-place Miami in the battle for the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot as it lost 100-90 to the Washington Wizards pm Wednesday while the Heat were routing the Detroit Pistons. "This one hurts a little bit," power forward Aaron Gordon told reporters afterward. "We have another one (Thursday) so we got to get right back to it." Cleveland regularly dominated Orlando during the LeBron James era and has won 20 of the past 23 matchups. The Cavaliers have split their past 12 games but fell in their last outing, 106-99 to the host Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Cleveland), FS Florida (Orlando)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (17-51): Point guard Collin Sexton scored 26 points against Philadelphia and is the first rookie in franchise history with three straight outings of 25 or more points since James in January 2004. Sexton's recent performance and the return of perennial All-Star power forward Kevin Love have energized the club as Cleveland is putting together better showings than earlier in the campaign. ”After the All-Star break I think that we gave everybody a message that we’re going to be a good team, that we’re not going to give up on anybody," forward Cedi Osman told reporters. "Whenever we have a game, we’re going to be there to play for 48 minutes, to play tough and after All-Star break I think that we improved a lot. Also, I think that now teams are respecting us."
ABOUT THE MAGIC (31-38): Orlando shot only 38.9 percent from the field in the loss to Washington and its bench was outscored 59-20. "It seems like we couldn't get anything going," Gordon told reporters after he was 4-of-13 shooting while contributing 13 points and nine rebounds. "We just didn't figure out the puzzle." All-Star center Nikola Vucevic put up 20 points and 14 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double and 14th in the past 15 games to extend his career-best total to 50.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The teams split two meetings in Cleveland earlier this season.
2. Cavaliers PF Larry Nance (ribs) could miss his third straight contest.
3. Orlando swingman Terrence Ross is 8-of-26 shooting over the past two games.